The second of the four Velka Pardubicka qualification races at Pardubice was run on Sunday, June 23^rd. As in the first qualification race, the field was rather small, but the quality was fine.

It was a rather undramatic race, thanks to the fact that the jockeys of the first two finishers managed to stay on board when their mounts made major mistakes. The race began slowly, but in due course Zarif was taken to the front. Sztorm was prominent throughout. Ange Guardian, as usual, was kept right at the back of the field for the first part of the race. Delight My Fire led into the Irish Bank, but she hesitated there and lost a number of lengths. She did not appear to be out of the race after the Irish Bank, but she put in a lacklustre performance and spent the rest of the race at the rear of the field. Ange Guardian made a mistake at the Small Taxis, and Marcel Novák, who was standing in for Jiří Kousek, did well to get back into the saddle. Jiří Kousek had been injured in a fall in an earlier race. Sztorm’s mistake came as they started the long run across the course before they come on to the grass track. Jan Faltejsek hung on. After the third fence from home, Ange Guardian took the lead, and only Sztorm was able to follow him. These two had a good battle till the end of the race, with Ange Guardian finally getting the better of Sztorm by a margin of one length.

All eight runners got round and qualified for the big race on Sunday October 13th. This was Ange Guardian’s third VP qualification race win. He has also finished 6th, 5th and 2nd, though trending in the wrong direction, in the Velka Pardubicka in the last three years. The distance of the VP may be too far for him. Sztorm has been impressive at Wroclaw over the years, but had never done much at Pardubice. The owner wants him to try for the VP this year, and this performance suggested that the horse might be a contender on October 13th. The others qualified for October 13th, but without impressing. Zarif has been in the VP prizemoney for each of the last five years. He is a dependable jumper and he stays, but he will probably again this year find that there are some faster horses in the field.

The two other qualification races at Pardubice will be on August 10th and on September 5th. Horses can also qualify by completing a Crystal Cup race, or by completing a race over three miles or more in France, Ireland or the United Kingdom. e is  

Photo: Marcel Novák. Photo by Petr Guth

Town of Pardubice Stakes – 2^nd qualification race for the 129^th Velka Pardubicka Steeplechase –Major M. Svoboda Memorial
Crosscountry Steeplechase National Listed - 5800 m, Stakes, 5-y-o+
CZK 400.000 (160000 - 88000 - 56000 - 40000 - 28000-16000-12000)
Going: 2.8 (good to firm)